In September 2003, the City Council adopted an ordinance establishing a Street Lighting Assessment in the City of New Port Richey. The Ordinance created a means of recovering costs incurred by the City in providing street lighting services to properties in the City. These fees are collected each year as non-ad valorem assessments to the property owners, under the provisions of Chapter 197, Florida Statutes. These fees are chargeable to the property owner, regardless of whether or not a property is tenant occupied.
The City has found that the use of a non-ad valorem assessment is the most equitable method of providing the necessary funding for providing street lighting services within the City. Each year the City must certify its street light non-ad valorem assessment roll with Pasco County. As part of that process, parcel owners who were not assessed a street light non-ad valorem assessment in the previous year are given an opportunity to make public comment and address the City Council concerning the street light non-ad valorem assessment.
The billing of the street lighting assessment fee is administered by Pasco County and can be seen as a line item in the non-ad valorem portion of the County tax bill. All property owners receive notice of their non-ad valorem assessments on their Notice of Proposed Property Taxes (TRIM Notice).
The street lighting fee is established by City Ordinance; the dollar amount of the street lighting fee schedule has not changed from last year ($37.81 per ERU or Equivalent Residential Unit).